Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 35, September 2010, pp. 213-221

Optimization of process parameters in air-jet texturing of
polyester/viscose blended yarns
S S Mahish
a
& S K Punj
The Technological Institute of Textile and Sciences, Bhiwani 127 021, India
and
V K Kothari
Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110 016, India
Received 8 August 2009; revised received 6 November 2009; accepted 10 December 2009
The effect of process parameters on properties of polyester/viscose blended air-jet textured yarns has been studied. It is
observed that with the increase in texturing speed the yarn physical bulk reduces, and instability and tenacity increase. With
increasing air pressure or overfeed, the physical bulk and instability increase, whereas tenacity reduces. Regression
equations for the prediction of air-jet textured yarns properties have also been derived. On the basis of the regression
equations the optimum process parameters for producing good quality air-jet textured yarns have been obtained, considering
that the yarns with lowest instability, and high bulk and tenacity are desirable. Yarn instability is accorded the highest
weightage while bulk is given intermediate and tenacity the lowest weightage in order to find out the combination of
parameters that will produce yarns of low instability, high bulk and high tenacity values.
Keywords: Air-jet texturing, Polyester/viscose blended yarn, Physical bulk
1 Introduction
Air-jet texturing is one of the several processes
used to convert synthetic filament yarns to textured
yarns and is the most versatile of all known texturing
methods. The air-jet texturing process is widely
known for its ability to produce continuous filament
yarns with spun yarn like appearance. The process
converts flat filament yarns into bulky spun like
yarns. It involves overfeeding of multifilament supply
yarns from a creel into an air-jet via an optional yarn
wetting device. Action of the compressed turbulent
cold air stream causes overfed individual filaments to
form loops and entangle with each other. Air-jet
texturing is a mechanical method and, therefore,
thermoplastic and non-thermoplastic filament yarns
can be used for air-jet texturing. Air-jet texturing thus
provides excellent potential for combining two or
more multifilament yarns into a more or less
intimately blended and coherent structure. In the
present study, an attempt has been made to predict the
optimum process parameters on the basis of yarn
physical bulk, instability and tenacity for producing
good quality polyester/viscose blended air-jet textured
yarns.

2 Materials and Methods
2.1 Raw Materials
Two types of fully oriented yarns (FOY), namely
polyester of 80/75 dtex (72/75 denier) and viscose of
80/24 dtex (72/24 denier), were used for air-jet
texturing. The average tenacity values of the polyester
and viscose yarns were 3.96 cN/dtex (CV% 3.57) and
1.55 cN/dtex (CV% 9.28) respectively.

2.2 Preparation of Textured Yarn Samples
Initially, before the actual textured yarn
preparation, the supply yarns were run through the
air-jet texturing machine individually as well as in
50/50 blend to understand the behavior of the yarns
under actual running conditions and to select the
range of process parameters that successfully runs for
the yarns on the machine. This was done on the basis
of the behaviour of the yarns during texturing and also
on the basis of the resultant yarn properties (physical
bulk, instability and tenacity). The ranges of process
_________
a
To whom all the correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: [email protected]
INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., SEPTEMBER 2010


214
parameters found to be suitable were:

Machine speed, m/min : 300 - 500
Overfeed, % : 14.7 - 33.3
Air pressure, bar : 7 - 10

Within this range three different values for each
parameter at equal intervals were taken as high,
medium and low (coded as +1, 0, -1) values as shown
in Table 1 and these values were used in different
combinations according to Box Behnken 3 level
design (Table 2) to prepare the yarn samples for the
study. The combinations were used randomly
according to random number table as 1, 14, 7, 4, 12,
10, 18, 2, 16, 19, 3, 9, 15, 11, 6, 17, 5, 8, 13 for
sample preparation to avoid any biasness of sampling.
Five different blends along with 100 % polyester and
100 % viscose filament yarns were taken for the
study. Blending was carried out by feeding the
required number of yarn combinations to the jet
according to Table 3. The following machine
parameters were kept constant for all the samples:

M/c used : Eltex AT/HS
Nozzle used : Hemajet S325
Winding underfeed : 0.7%
Mechanical stretch : 4.7%
Stabilizing temperature : 200
o
C
Water application : 1 L/h at 1 bar pressure

The polyester yarns were fed through a wetting
head before entry to the jet, whereas the viscose yarns
were fed dry to the jet because during the initial trials
it was observed that the wet viscose filaments have a
tendency to stick to each other inside the jet inhibiting
proper separation of filaments and this results in
lesser loop formation (poor texturing effect). The
moistened viscose filaments also give rise to breakage
in the nozzle.

2.3 Methods
2.3.1 Physical Bulk
Physical bulk of air-jet textured yarns was
measured using the package density method.
Packages of equal diameter were wound using parent
and air-jet textured yarns under constant tension of 3
cN at a speed of 300 m/min for 30 min in a spindle
driven winder. Following formula was used to
measure physical bulk:

3
3
Physical bulk (%)
Density of parent yarn package (g / cm )
100
Density of textured yarn package (g / cm )


=

) - (
-
) (g/cm density Package
c
2
y c
2
c y c 3
R R L
M M
+
+
=

where M
c+y
is the total weight of full package (g); M
c
,
the weight of empty package (g); L, the traverse
length of package (cm); R
c+y
, the overall radius of
full package (cm); and R
c
, the radius of empty
package (cm).

2.3.2 Instability
The instability of the air-jet textured yarns was
measured using Du Ponts weight hanging method. A
basic load of 0.0088 cN/dtex (0.01 gf/den) was
applied to the yarn and a mark was made at 100 cm
distance from the clamp. Yarn was then subjected to
Table 1Actual and coded values of process parameters

Parameter Low
(coded -1)
Medium
(coded 0)
High
(coded +1)

M/c speed, m/min 300 400 500
Overfeed, % 14.7 24 33.3
Air pressure, bar 7 8.5 10


Table 2Box Behnken design for the process parameters

Sl.
No.
Overfeed, % Air pressure, bar Tex. speed, m/min

1 -1(14.7) -1(7) 0(400)
2 +1(33.3) -1(7) 0(400)
3 -1(14.7) +1(10) 0(400)
4 +1(33.3) +1(10) 0(400)
5 -1(14.7) 0(8.5) -1(300)
6 +1(33.3) 0(8.5) -1(300)
7 -1(14.7) 0(8.5) +1(500)
8 +1(33.3) 0(8.5) +1(500)
9 0(24) -1(7) -1(300)
10 0(24) +1(10) -1(300)
11 0(24) -1(7) +1(500)
12 0(24) +1(10) +1(500)
13-19 0(24) 0(8.5) 0(400)


Table 3Blends of filament yarns for texturing

Sl.
No.
Yarn
blend
(P/V)
Polyester
(No. of yarns)
Viscose
(No. of yarns)
Theoretical
blend ratio
(P/V)

1 0/6 0 6 0/100
2 1/5 1 5 16.67/83.33
3 2/4 2 4 33.33/66.67
4 3/3 3 3 50/50
5 4/2 4 2 66.67/33.33
6 5/1 5 1 83.33/16.67
7 6/0 6 0 100/0


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215
an additional load of 0.44 cN/dtex (0.5 gf/den) for
30 s. The permanent extension in the length of the
yarn measured after 30 s of the removal of the heavy
load was taken as a measure of instability. Ten
readings were taken from a sample package to
estimate instability and between each successive
reading nearly 5 m yarn was unwound from the
package and discarded.

2.3.3 Tensile Properties
Tensile properties of all the textured yarns were
measured according to ASTM test method D2256-02
in Instron (Model 4411) with 500 mm gauge length,
300 mm/min crosshead speed and 0.048 cN/dtex
(0.055 gf/den) pretension level. Thirty samples from
each package were tested to obtain average tensile
properties.

2.4 Optimization of Texturing Process Parameters
2.4.1 Determination of Regression Equations for Prediction of
Yarn Properties
Regression equations for prediction of physical
bulk, instability and tenacity for all the blends were
derived using backward elimination method. In this
method, we start with a model possibly loaded with
redundant regressor variables and try to strip it down
to the really meaningful core, based on partial
F-statistic. The partial F-statistic shows the highest
partial correlation with the response after accounting
for the effects of other variables already in the model.
Prediction in real life textile applications is becoming
essential and common. Prediction of expected
behaviour/performance of a process or product, before
it is made, is required to minimize or reduce the
set-up cost and set-up time. Alternatively, there could
be situations where a decision is required to be taken
based on the past data; here a normal human brain has
limitations of drawing out inferences. Ability to
predict properties of yarns accurately has become a
challenge due to the highly non-linear interactive
behaviour of fibres and yarns, especially under
dynamic conditions
1
.

2.4.2 Optimization of Process Parameters
The optimum process parameters for different
blends were determined with the help of the
regression equations by assigning 3:2:1 weightage to
instability (lower value), physical bulk (higher value)
and tenacity (higher value) of the yarns. The
optimization process also involves selection of
parameters on the basis of lower air pressure,
considering the process cost.
3 Results and Discussion
The regression equation used for the prediction of
physical bulk, instability and tenacity of the air-jet
textured yarns is given below:

Y = C
0
+ C
1
X
1
+ C
2
X
1
2
+ C
3
X
2
+ C
4
X
2
2
+ C
5
X
3

+C
6
X
3
2
+ C
7
X
1
X
2
+ C
8
X
2
X
3
+ C
9
X
3
X
1
+ C
10
X
1
2
X
2

+ C
11
X
1
2
X
3
+ C
12
X
2
2
X
1
+ C
13
X
2
2
X
3
+ C
14
X
3
2
X
1
+
C
15
X
3
2
X
2
+ C
16
X
1
X
2
X
3


where Y is either physical bulk, instability or tenacity;
and X
1
, X
2
and X
3
are the values of overfeed (%), air
pressure (bar) and texturing speed (m/min)
respectively. The coefficients C
0
, C
1
,C
16
for each
properties of each blend were determined separately.
The corresponding significance tests of the model
equations carried out on the basis of coefficient of
determination (R
2
), F-statistic and model significance
for each blend are given in Table 4.
To visualize the quality of the fit of a regression
equation, a plot of observed vs. predicted response is
used with a fitted straight line giving the correlation
coefficient R or coefficient of determination R
2
. For a
given model, larger the value of F
statistic
the higher is
the confidence level for the significance of the model,
i.e. a higher probability of rejection of null hypothesis
(H
0
). The F
significance
value shows the probability of
being wrong in concluding that there is an association
between the dependent and independent variables (i.e.
the probability of falsely rejecting the null hypothesis
or committing a Type I error, based on F). The
smaller the F
significance
value, the greater is the
probability that there is an association and it indicates
high model significance. A value of 0.05 indicates a
significant model at the 95% confidence level. The
confidence interval for the regression line gives the
range of values that defines the region containing the
true mean relationship between the dependent and the
independent variables, with the specified level of
confidence.
It is observed from Table 4 that the equations for
physical bulk for all the blends except for 50/50 P/V
are well fitted with very low F
significance
, high
F-statistic and high R
2
values. Low F-statistic and
high F
significance
for 50/50 P/V blend are indicative of
poor model fit.
The equations for instability are also found to be
very well fitted except for 67/33 P/V and 100%
polyester. Although the equation for 67/33 P/V is
significant at 99% confidence level but a
comparatively low value of F-statistic indicates
INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., SEPTEMBER 2010


216
some lack of fit. The equation for 100% polyester
shows significant lack of fit with very high F
significance

and very low F-statistic. Also, a low R
2
value
confirms this.

The equations for tenacity for most of the blends
are well fitted except for 100% viscose and 67/33
P/V. The R
2
values and the F-statistic for these two
blends are low. Particularly, the equation for tenacity
of 67/33 P/V shows poor fit with low F-statistic and
low model significance (high F
significance
value).
3.1 Effect of Blend Proportion and Process Parameters on
Physical Properties
The results of the effect of process parameters and
blend proportion on the predicted properties of the
blended yarns are discussed in the following sections.
In order to observe the effect of one process
parameter on any yarn property the other two
parameters are kept at their central values.

3.1.1 Physical Bulk
Physical bulk is an important characteristic of air-
jet textured yarn and is affected by the yarn surface
characteristics, fibre properties and dimensions, and
frequency of the loops protruding out of the core. It
plays a decisive role in determining the thermal and
mechanical behaviour of fabrics made from these
yarns. Bulk characteristics of woven fabrics also have
significant influence on fabric hand. So, the factors
which affect the bulk of the yarns should be studied
critically. It is observed from (Fig. 1a) that as the
texturing speed increases, the physical bulk of the
yarn reduces. At higher machine speed the residence
time of the filaments inside the jet would be lower. In
this situation the filaments are taken up before proper
loop formation. Hence, the effectiveness of texturing
reduces. Mutual displacement between the filaments
reduces and a consequent decrease in the loop
formation tendency is observed.
Figure 1(b) shows that an increase in air pressure
increases the physical bulk of the yarn. As the air
pressure increases, the air velocity at the exit, the
degree of non-uniformity in the velocity distribution
and the turbulence increase; the filament separation
and the longitudinal displacements of the filaments
with respect to each other become more effective, and
hence the filaments travel and change their positions
at greater rate resulting in better loop formation.
Figure 1(c) shows that the physical bulk increases
with the increase in overfeed, initially at a slow rate
and then at higher rate at higher overfeed levels.
When the overfeed is low, the excess length of
filament available to form loops and arcs is less with
very few loops on the surface. As the overfeed is
increased, more excess lengths of filaments are
available to form loops. Consequently, the surface of
the yarn is covered with many slack and large loops
2
,
which possibly results in a higher rate of increase in
physical bulk.

3.1.2 Instability
The bulkiness of an ideal good quality air-jet
textured yarn can be made to remain virtually
Table 4Significance test for regression models of air-jet
textured yarns

Blended
yarn
(P/V)
Yarn
property
R
2
F
statistic
Model
significance
(F
significance
10
-5
)

0/6 Physical
bulk, %
0.967 29.35 1.288370
Instability, % 0.981 52.72 0.102843

Tenacity
cN/dtex
0.894 13.20 14.80000

1/5 Physical
bulk, %
0.985 54.26 0.297801
Instability, % 0.991 67.65 0.500715

Tenacity,
cN/dtex
0.931 34.86 0.043531

2/4 Physical
bulk, %
0.971 27.16 4.278830
Instability, % 0.985 51.93 0.353283

Tenacity
cN/dtex
0.915 13.40 20.30000

3/3 Physical
bulk, %
0.961 15.70 67.30000
Instability, % 0.922 23.68 0.544755

Tenacity
cN/dtex
0.920 14.39 14.80000

4/2 Physical
bulk, %
0.947 22.15 2.123000
Instability, % 0.930 16.59 7.893000

Tenacity
cN/dtex
0.786 12.82 13.60000

5/1 Physical
bulk, %
0.930 26.74 0.281016
Instability, % 0.981 82.92 0.001229

Tenacity
cN/dtex
0.976 33.09 2.015280

6/0 Physical
bulk, %
0.944 26.71 0.466467
Instability, % 0.898 07.04 541.0000

Tenacity
cN/dtex

0.976 32.97 2.042210
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217
unchanged at loads corresponding to those normally
imposed in fabric production and during wear. But a
close examination of an air-jet textured yarn reveals
that some of the loops that characterize such yarns can
be pulled out under tension during processing and use.
Loops that can be pulled out easily under low tensions
have a detrimental effect on the fabric forming
process. The stresses applied to the yarn during the
fabric manufacturing process would result in a non-
uniform reduction in yarn bulk and as a consequence
the fabric irregularity would be increased. Therefore,
a close look on the factors affecting the stability of
these yarns is important. Figure 2(a) shows that the
yarn instability increases with texturing speed in most
of the cases. Since the resultant forces and moments
on the filaments are mainly generated by the relative
velocity between the filaments and the surrounding air
flow
3
, lower forces and moments are exerted on the
individual filaments at higher texturing speeds. These
lower fluid forces cause poor entanglement and
formation of more loosely held loops. Secondly, as
the texturing speed is increased, the effectiveness of
texturing reduces because of lesser time available for
the filaments inside the jet, allowing less filament
mutual displacement which results in large and
unstable loop formation. This also increases the
instability of the yarn.

It is observed from Fig. 2b that instability shows an
increase with increasing air pressure. This can be
attributed to the formation of higher number of small
loops at increased air pressure, more filament
migration and a reduced number of straight filaments
in the yarn, which, in turn, contributes to increased
yarn instability
4,5
. It may be argued that with large
number of loops there will be fewer unlooped
filament segments at any cross-section to take the
strain, and consequently some of these may break
early; this could cause neighboring loops to be pulled
out, which would result in high instability. For 100%
viscose yarn, the instability is found to be very high.
In this study the viscose yarns were dry textured and
dry texturing results in yarn with less structural
integrity, regardless of the yarn material
6
.

Figure 2(c) shows that the instability of the blended
yarns increases with increase in overfeed in most of
the cases. This may be attributed to higher number of
loops being formed, which increases the tendency of
higher number of loose loops to remain in the yarn.
As a result higher instability is observed in the yarns.


Fig. 1(a) Effect of texturing speed on predicted bulk of
P/V blended yarns at 8.5 bar air pressure and 24% overfeed;
(b) effect of air pressure on predicted bulk of P/V blended yarns at
400 m/min texturing speed and 24% overfeed; and (c) effect of
overfeed on predicted bulk of P/V blended yarns at 8.5 bar air
pressure and 400 m/min texturing speed [ 0/6 blend (1),
1/5 blend (2), 2/4 blend (3), 3/3 blend (4),
- - - - 4/2 blend (5), - - - - 5/1 blend (6) and 6/0 blend (7)]
INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., SEPTEMBER 2010


218


Fig. 2(a) Effect of texturing speed on predicted instability of
P/V blended yarns at 8.5 bar air pressure and 24% overfeed;
(b) effect of air pressure on predicted instability of P/V blended
yarns at 400 m/min texturing speed and 24% overfeed; and
(c) effect of overfeed on predicted instability of P/V blended yarns
at 8.5 bar air pressure and 400 m/min texturing speed
[ 0/6 blend (1), 1/5 blend (2), 2/4 blend (3),
3/3 blend (4), - - - - 4/2 blend (5), - - - - 5/1 blend (6)
and 6/0 blend (7)]
3.1.3 Tenacity
In a textured yarn, as the filaments are randomly
entangled and some of these local entanglements and
loops are removed under an applied load, the
deformation of a textured yarn starts with permanent
elongation. All filaments exhibit loops and entangled
sections intermittently along their lengths, but these
are separated by straight portions of filaments. At any
section of the yarn, at any particular instance, only
these straight portions will bear the applied load. A
good quality air-jet textured yarn, i.e. one with many
small, compact, entangled loops, will also exhibit a
large decrease in tenacity (maximum specific stress
that is developed in a tensile test to rupture) when
compared with the straight filament supply yarn from
which it is produced. In other words, the higher the
reduction in tenacity, the better is the textured yarn
quality.
It is observed from Fig. 3a that as the texturing
speed increases, the tenacity of the yarn increases. With
increasing process speed the filaments get less time
inside the jet for mutual displacement and as a result
the effectiveness of texturing reduces. As a
consequence the structure becomes more like
untextured yarns with more straight filaments along the
yarn axis as shown by lowering of bulk in Fig. 1a. So,
the contribution of the relatively straight filaments,
available to carry the applied load, in the yarn increases
which contributes to higher strength in the yarn.
Figure 3(b) shows that the tenacity of the blended
textured yarns decreases with increase in air pressure,
except for 100% polyester yarn. As the air pressure
inside the jet increases during texturing, the air
velocity at the exit of the jet, the asymmetry in the air
velocity distribution and the turbulence increase.
Filament separation and longitudinal displacement of
the filaments with respect to each other become more
effective, and filaments change their positions at
higher frequency. This leads to better loop formation
and texturing, which results in a smaller number of
straight filaments at the yarn core to bear the load and
hence a consequent reduction in tenacity with
increasing air pressure is observed
7,8
.
Figure 3(c) shows that the reduction in tenacity
occurs as the overfeed is increased. At high overfeed,
because there are adequate extra lengths of filaments
available for loop formation the number of loops
formed increases and at the same time the loop size is
also larger
9
. This provides lesser straight portion of
filaments in the yarn core to bear the applied load.
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219




Fig. 3(a) Effect of texturing speed on predicted tenacity
of P/V blended yarns at 8.5 bar air pressure and 24%
overfeed; (b) effect of air pressure on predicted tenacity
of P/V blended yarns at 400 m/min texturing speed and
24% overfeed; and (c) effect of overfeed on predicted
tenacity of P/V blended yarns at 8.5 bar air pressure
and 400 m/min texturing speed [ 0/6 blend (1),
1/5 blend (2), 2/4 blend (3), 3/3 blend (4),
- - - - 4/2 blend (5), - - - - 5/1 blend (6) and 6/0 blend (7)]

3.2 Optimum Process Parameters for Blended Air-jet
Textured Yarns
The most important properties that characterize
air-jet textured yarns are instability, physical bulk and
tensile properties of the yarns. Higher bulk and lower
instability values have traditionally been used as
indicators of the quality of air textured yarns.
However, there is no agreement about the definition
of overall quality in published literature. A further
complication is that, what may be considered as good
quality for one end use may not be the acceptable
quality for another end-use. The instability of air-jet
textured yarn means the retention of the texture
(loops) under applied load, such as those encountered
during further processing of the yarns. This may be
dependent on the integrity of the core structure,
which, in turn, may be dependent on the effectiveness
of texturing, fibre-to-fibre frictional relationship and
extent of removal of the surface finish during
texturing. If the loops of air-jet textured yarns are
pulled out during further processing, the yarn bulk
will be reduced and if this bulk reduction takes place
selectively in certain section of the yarn, the
irregularity of the product will increase. Therefore,
while considering the quality of the fabrics produced
from air-jet textured yarns, instability should be given
a high weightage.
The physical bulk may be considered a
characteristic of the number, type and frequency of
loops on the textured yarn surface indicating the
voluminosity of the yarn, which is considered to be
one of the major yarn properties affecting the fabric
comfort properties produced from these yarns. It is
generally observed that the higher the physical bulk of
an air-jet textured yarn, the higher is the instability.
Higher physical bulk is considered advantageous from
fabric comfort point of view, but when considering
the quality aspect of the fabric (higher instability
indicates poor fabric quality) the physical bulk can be
assigned lower weightage than the instability of
the yarns.
The tensile properties are of particular importance
in any yarn to withstand the stress and strain during
further processing and use. Generally, air-jet textured
yarns are inelastic and have lower tensile strength at
break than their untextured counterparts. The reduced
mechanical properties are due to the yarn structure of
these air-jet textured yarns. The average strength
values generally obtained from filament yarns are
more than sufficient than is required for apparel use.
INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., SEPTEMBER 2010


220
Piller et al.
10
further ascertained that the tenacity of
air-jet textured yarns satisfy the requirements for
knitting and weaving machines. So, the tenacity of the
textured yarns may have relatively lesser importance
out of these three properties. Based on the above
argument, in this study instability (minimum),
physical bulk (maximum) and tenacity (maximum) of
the yarns are given 3:2:1 weightage while determining
the optimum yarn quality.
Firstly, the range of each process parameters
(overfeed, air pressure and texturing speed) is divided
into 11 equal intervals and the values of instability,
bulk and tenacity are predicted for all the possible
combinations of values of process parameters.
Secondly, the maximum and minimum values of bulk
and tenacity are found out. The instability values
within the range of 0 and 1 are accepted and negative
values are considered as 0. Each instability, bulk
and tenacity values are then assigned weightage
according to the equations given below (for 3:2:1
weightage combination):

W (1- Instability) 300
Instability
Bulk - Bulk
min
W 200
Bulk
Bulk - Bulk
max min
Tenacity - Tenacity
min
W 100
Tenacity
Tenacity - Tenacity
max min




=
=
=


Thirdly, these individual weightage values are
added up to get the cumulative weightage values for
each process parameter combination. Finally, these
cumulative values are arranged in descending order.
Now, the maximum cumulative value will give the
best parameter combination for producing optimum
quality textured yarns. This is done with the help of a
Turbo C program.
Table 5 shows the optimum process parameters
determined by the above-mentioned program to
achieve minimum instability, maximum bulk and
maximum tenacity in the textured yarns with 3:2:1
weightage to the respective properties.

3.2.1 Checking the Accuracy of Optimization Process
Blended air-jet textured yarns were produced using
the optimum process parameters as mentioned in the
previous section. The yarns were then tested for the
actual values of instability, physical bulk and tenacity.
The results are given in Table 6. It can be observed
from Tables 5 and 6 that the predicted values of
physical bulk and tenacity of the air-jet textured yarns
under optimum processing conditions are sufficiently
close to the actual values of the properties obtained
under these processing conditions. The instability
values of the predicted and the actual values for
instability of yarns produced at optimum processing
conditions does not show good correlation.

4 Conclusions
Increasing texturing speed reduces the yarn
physical bulk and increases the instability and
tenacity. With the increase in air pressure or overfeed,
Table 5Optimum process parameters used for producing blended air-jet textured yarns and the predicted values of properties

Optimum process parameter Predicted values of properties Blend (P/V)
Air pressure, bar Overfeed, % M/c speed, m/min Instability, % Physical bulk, % Tenacity, cN/dtex

0/6 7.3 33.3 300 0.00 186.8 1.38
1/5 7 20.3 (20) 300 0.02 199.7 1.46
2/4 9.7 14.7 300 0.24 186.1 1.73
3/3 7 24 300 0.51 208.3 1.99
4/2 7 20.3 (20) 300 0.71 206.4 2.26
5/1 7 14.7 300 0.39 210.0 2.88
6/0 7 33.3 300 0.43 220.0 3.17

Values in parentheses are the nearest values that are practically possible to set in the texturing m/c.


Table 6Values of instability, physical bulk and tenacity of
textured yarns produced under optimum process conditions

Blend
(P/V)
Instability, % Physical bulk, % Tenacity, cN/dtex

0/6 0.39 192 1.49
1/5 0.27 197 1.87
2/4 0.36 190 1.89
3/3 0.38 208 2.18
4/2 0.61 209 2.40
5/1 0.64 209 2.96
6/0 0.45 210 3.56


MAHISH et al.: AIR-JET TEXTURING OF POLYESTER/VISCOSE BLENDED YARNS


221
physical bulk and instability increase and tenacity
reduces.
This study reports the optimum air-jet texturing
process parameters to be used to produce P/V blended
air-jet textured yarns with 3:2:1 wieghtage to low
instability, high physical bulk and high tenacity of the
yarns. It is also observed that lower texturing speed is
necessary for producing good quality air-jet textured
yarn for any blend.
Generally, the prediction of optimum process
conditions to achieve low instability values in the
air-jet textured yarns does not seem to be very
effective. For 50/50 P/V and 67/33 P/V blends the
predicted values of instability under optimum process
conditions are found to be higher than the actually
observed values, whereas the predicted values of
physical bulk are lower than the actually obtained
values under the same processing conditions. This
means that these two blends behave better than
expected during the air-jet texturing process. The
predicted values and the actual values of the physical
bulk and tenacity of the yarns produced at optimum
processing conditions are found to be closely
correlated. It is also found that 100% viscose and
100% polyester yarns require high overfeed to
generate high bulk and low instability in the
textured yarn.

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